Dare
by Blondie Pants
Summary: A one-shot about Katara and Zuko's three kids during their teenage years. Highly entertaining, I've been told.


**Dare**

When she was six, Akeo had dared her to dump her cider in the Earth Kingdom ambassador's lap. She had done it. She had discovered in doing so that her parents could yell loud enough to actually drone out each other, making it impossible to hear what either of them were saying.

When she was nine, Akeo had dared her to cut off one of Leandra's pigtails while she was asleep. She had done it. She had discovered in doing so that her seven-year-old sister knew a lot about what creepy-crawlies do with underwear that's been soaked in honey.

When she was thirteen, Akeo had dared her to switch from her horse to Leandra's horse, at a gallop, without slowing the pace. She had done it. She had discovered in doing so that the phrase "near death experience" can be taken literally, if done properly.

Now, she was fifteen, and Akeo had another dare.

"You've _got_ to be kidding."

"Nope. Do it. I _dare _you." Even at seventeen, Akeo was no more mature than a ten-year-old with his dares.

Renata sighed in exasperation. "Akeo, that hair piece is over _five hundred years old._ I'm not going to steal it."

"And get away with it."

"_No_. I would be grounded for life."

"Only if you're caught."

"How would I accomplish that with_out_ getting caught?"

"Chicken."

"Hot head."

"Butterfingers."

"Dragon Breath."

"Straight up. Grandda taught me that."

"Fire Fart."

"Hey!" Akeo fumbled for another name, then shook his head when he realized he didn't have one. "You win that round. But you still have to do it."

"No."

"What if I said that Leandra could help you?"

"Help how?"

"Like a distraction or something."

"So if I do this (I'm not saying I will), Leandra gets to help me, and you're going to take us shopping tomorrow and let us get anything we want to, compliments of you."

"Deal."

"I'm still not going to do it."

"_What?"_

"Akeo, how in the four hells do you expect me to get Da's hair piece, the ancient _Crown of Fire_ no less, with out being caught?"

"If you didn't intend to do it, why'd you bother to clear the terms?"

"I was curious as to what you'd be willing to risk to see me make a fool of myself."

"How about this: even if you're caught, I'll buy you that horribly expensive makeup set that you and Leandra were swooning over the other day."

Renata hesitated. "Maybe. I have to go find Leandra."

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

That's how Renata could be found, an hour later, lying on the rafters in the Fire Lord's study, and trying to work out how she got herself into these predicaments.

Her father's head was bent over the desk, reading some document or another, and far to low to reach. Carefully, so her clothes wouldn't rustle, the teenager swung her legs to one side of the beam and slowly bent backwards until she was hanging upside down by her knees, directly over his head. Unfortunately, she was still nowhere near enough to reach the gold hair piece.

_Come on, Leandra, where are you?_ He wasn't going to stand up anytime soon without some prompting. Renata took one leg off the rafter—maybe swinging from just one would give her a bit more reach.

The door opened and Princess Leandra walked in.

"Morning, Da."

Zuko looked up. "Morning, Leandra. Aren't you usually sparring with Renata at this time?"

"We already did. She woke me up."

"Better her than me."

Leandra laughed her delicate, highborn laugh that many said sounded like spring approaching.

"If you don't mind, sweetie, I'm a bit busy…?"

"Oh, right. Mother asked to see you."

"Did she say why?"

"Something about the seating chart for tomorrow's dinner. Apparently two of the lords are mad at each other and can't sit near each other. Or something like that."

"All right." He shuffled his papers into piles so that he could return to work when he came back.

_Come on,_ Leandra thought, eyeing her sister discreetly. She couldn't hold for much longer.

Finally, Zuko stood up, and Renata's hand closed on the gold.

He stretched, almost hitting his eldest daughter in the face.

The waterbender pulled it out, slowly, as he finished his stretch and stepped towards the door.

The hair piece was free. Renata threw a hand up to grab the rafter above her because her knee was slipping. She let go with her leg, intending to grab the beam before she could fall.

Leandra saw what was going to happen and winced, at which point several things happened at once.

Their father saw her expression and said "What is it?"

Renata realized that they probably should've thought this whole thing through a lot better.

Renata hit the table with a resounding crash that sent up a cloud from the carefully organized piles of papers.

Leandra ran.

At the end of the hallway, Leandra found her brother using the wall as support while he laughed hysterically. She grabbed his wrist as she ran past, and he followed, tripping and stumbling, as they put as much distance between the Fire Lord's study and them.

They just managed to make it to Akeo's room before collapsing in laughter.

"That…was…so…funny…" Leandra said between gasps. There were tears on her cheeks. Neither of them was able to manage any more coherent words for quite sometime.

"I wish I could have seen it," Akeo said after several minutes.

"He's going to be livid."

"Not at me. I was not involved."

"Are you kidding? You were the one who dared her!"

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

**And this is the kind of thing I do when I'm bored…**


End file.
